


Adventure on Io

by genarti



Category: Captain Cosmos - Fandom
Genre: Disintegrator ray, Friendship, Gen, Ray guns, Stella Skyfire fix-it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-15 05:46:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1293565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genarti/pseuds/genarti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Cosmos finds a visit to Prince Tharkis more eventful than expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventure on Io

**Author's Note:**

  * For [camwyncwru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/camwyncwru/gifts).



> I know you prompted the tv show and the comics, but I couldn't resist stealing some of the style of the episode novelizations. I hope it works for you! I had a lot of fun with this -- thanks for the prompt, and the excuse to revisit this fandom! I couldn't resist bringing back an old friend, too.

"Gosh dangit, Jangles! This is a fine scrape." 

The weird, warbling cries of a horde of Jupiteran bandits echoed through the Ionian orbital palace's narrow hallways, impinging ever closer to the stalwart spaceman and his primate pal. 

The courageous Captain Cal Cosmos had come to Io to visit his old friend, Prince Tharkis of the peace-loving Ionian States. Expecting no trouble, he had brought along only his faithful sidekick Jangles the Moon Monkey, whose affection for the Ionian prince who had once saved his life was second only to his affection for Ionian iced cakes. Nell Nebula, his plucky second-in-command who had ably taken the place of her cousin Stella Skyfire, had remained aboard the Cosmo-tron with Robo-man the robot mechanic, Varda the Venusian medic, and Bob the cook and navigator with a mysterious past.

Unfortunately, upon arrival he had been shocked to find the palace empty! A terrified servant boy found hiding in a closet had told the Captain that Prince Tharkis had been kidnapped by villainous blue bandits of Jupiter, and all his peaceable household were either captured or hiding. Captain Cosmos immediately resolved to rescue his friend. As he often said, no man whose heart burned with love for Truth, Justice, and the Space-American Way could do otherwise.

Now the bold defender of Earth was trapped in a dead-end corridor, with the Jupiteran horde's howls assaulting his ears even through his helmet's up-to-date auditory filters.

"Well, Jangles," cried the spectacular spacefarer, "there's nothing else for it! We can't contact our friends on the Cosmo-tron while the communications barrier is still in place. We can't escape those devilish bandits, and in any case we can't abandon poor Prince Tharkis to their villainy. We'll just have to depend on Space-American pluck and fight our way through. Come on, old friend!"

Jangles squeaked, his furry face determined, and lifted his own ray gun.

"That's the spirit!" Captain Cosmos smiled grimly, yet his eyes gleamed with the brash fighting joy of his red-blooded Space-American soul. 

Suddenly they heard tramping boots through the thin wall behind them. Jangles chittered urgently. "I know, little chum. More of those ruffians behind us, even if we do have the protection of that wall. We sure are in a pickle."

Jangles squawked louder. He went so far as to shove at the Captain's leg. Astonished, Captain Cosmos stared down at him. "What is it, little buddy? You ought to be keeping your moon-eyes on the bandits coming for us."

With a hiss like boiling steam, an oblong section of the wall began to glow red. "Disintegrator rays!" cried the Captain, as he and Jangles scrambled away from it. "That's what you were trying to tell me, Jangles, wasn't it?" The distinctive eerie hum of a disintegrator ray gun sounded through the hallway, and the glowing metal vanished into nothingness. Captain Cosmos and Jangles readied their ray guns as a small group burst through the newly created opening.

To their surprise, the silver suited intruders were not clad in the outfits of the bandits of Jupiter. Instead, what our heroes saw was a group of the brave fighters of Mars, in their unmistakeable red-trimmed spacesuits.

Their mirrored helmets obscured their identities, as is always the case for Martian fighters who expect to meet with danger. Nonetheless, Captain Cosmos knew that any Martian warriors would be his allies, especially after the service he and the Cosmo-tron's crew had provided the planet in the events which led to Stella Skyfire being crowned their Queen. "Am I glad to see you fellows!" he cried joyfully. And not a moment too soon, for the Jupiteran forces burst into the corridor in that very moment!

Captain Cosmos sprang forward, the Martian leader at his side. They fought shoulder to shoulder like old friends, as the blinding bolts of their ray guns filled the air. The bandits had no chance before such valiant warriors. They fell swiftly. Soon, the hallway was littered with the stunned and groaning bodies of the miscreants. 

Captain Cosmos turned to the leader. "Thanks, friend! You sure saved our bacon." With the broad, honest smile known to all who had fought at the Space-American hero's side, he offered his hand to shake.

The Martian leader laughed. "You bet, Cal," said a warm, feminine voice that the spectacular spacefarer found astonishingly familiar. The leader tugged off her helmet to reveal tumbling red tresses, and the beautiful face of Stella Skyfire.

"Stella!" the Captain cried. Jangles squeaked his own greeting, and leaped with the legendary agility of the moon monkeys to her shoulder. "Gosh, it's great to see you! But what are you doing here?"

"That's a long story," said Stella Skyfire, the Martian Queen. "The short part is that when we swung by here, we were shocked to get no answer from the palace – and more shocked when the Cosmo-tron didn't answer our space-phone calls either! I knew neither you nor my young cousin Nell Nebula would ignore our call no matter how dire the situation. We figured it had to be a communications blackout. I thought I'd better come down with a squad and see what was going on."

"Jupiteran bandits have kidnapped Prince Tharkis, that's what's going on."

"By the twin moons of Mars! I was afraid of that."

"Jangles and I were scratching our heads trying to figure out how to rescue him all by our lonesome."

"Oh, you'd have managed something clever."

"Well, I'd've given it the good old Space-American go," the Captain modestly allowed. "But rescuing our old chum is going to be a whole lot easier with friends. Come on, your Majesty! Let's get this muddle fixed, and then you and your fellows can all come back to the Cosmo-tron for burgers and space cola with Nell and Robo-man and all the rest."

"You'd have my help just for that, Cal," laughed Stella. "You just can't get a good burger on Mars!"

Captain Cosmos chuckled. Stella put her helmet back on, obscuring her features once again behind the featureless mirror-helmet of a Martian warrior. Captain Cosmos reflected briefly on the changes that had take place since Stella had boarded the Cosmo-tron two years ago as a young Earth maid, proficient in the fighting arts of the Space-American Space Force but unaccustomed to any customs but those of the isolated space base she had been raised on. And now, here she stood with all the confident command of a Martian queen!

Still, there was a task to be done, and a friend to save, and Captain Cosmos never shirked from a fight, nor allowed himself to be distracted by too much musing. He hefted his ray gun, and together the group of warriors set out towards the heart of the Ionian palace, and the stronghold of the Jupiteran bandits holding their peaceable friend captive.


End file.
